California Dairies has broken ground on a 220,000-square-foot milk processing facility in Kern County, California, near Bakersfield. The plant will be built on 30 acres of land and feature ultra-high temperature (UHT) and extended shelf-life (ESL) milk processing. The facility is expected to create approximately 100 new jobs when fully operational in 2023. 

Nature Fresh Farms is expanding its operations in Delta, Ohio, increasing their organic acreage as well as a plans to build a new distribution center. The property expansion will include doubling the greenhouse acreage from the current 45 acres to 90, with the future extension to be dedicated to year-round organics. This new greenhouse allows the company to expand organics program using state of the art tech to grow tomatoes and peppers throughout the year.

Almost every cold foods facility reaches a crossroads where a decision must be made to either move into a larger, new-build structure capable of handling a company’s business growth, or take the renovations route to update and expand an existing building.

T. Marzetti is expanding its Horse Cave, Kentucky, processing facility by an extra 184,500 square feet after a recent groundbreaking ceremony. The facility manufactures salad dressings, sauces and other foods for retail and foodservice markets. The expansion will provide additional manufacturing space and include new equipment to increase dressing and sauce production, new processing kitchens, and several packaging lines to meet growing customer demand. The expansion is expected to be complete in the summer of 2022 and will create over 200 jobs for the region.

On our latest From the Cold Corner Podcast, I talk with Vincent Free, chairman of the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA) about how the organization helps bring together suppliers, sub-contractors, builders and more, to move the thermal envelope industry forward through education and networking.

Looking back on what we’ll call 2020 B.C. (Before Coronavirus), the pipeline for cold storage construction was already robust and healthy. According to research by commercial real estate firm CBRE, overall industrial construction—which encompasses cold storage, along with warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, self-storage, office and flex space—was at 298 million square feet (MSF) before COVID-19, bolstered by the ongoing rise of e-commerce. 

After several delays due to COVID-19, John Soules Foods, the City of Valley, and the Chambers County Development Authority (CCDA) announce that construction on the new John Soules Foods facility in Valley, Alabama, has begun.

The new facility will result in up to 225 new, full-time jobs by 2023 in Salina and include automated state-of-the-art pizza-production lines, shipping and receiving docks, and office space. The company already employs 1,125 people at its current 550,000-square-foot production facility and distribution center in Salina. Additional projects are planned for the Salina site over the next several years as Schwan’s plans for continued growth in the company’s pizza business, representing an investment of several hundred million dollars in total.

Interroll has completed construction on its second plant on their campus in Hiram (Atlanta) Georgia. The $11 million investment gives Interroll a substantial increase in capacity for the region.

Ark Foods, the modern-day farming brand known for creating fresh and exciting produce, is expanding its classic line of Veggie Bowls with four new flavors: Buffalo Cauli Mac, General Tso's Cauli, Alfredo Veggie Spaghetti and Sesame Veggie Noodles. This launch will expand its best-selling category and put Ark Foods at the forefront of the plant-based movement, leading the ever-popular trend with better-for-you, heat-and-eat options. To accommodate the brand’s rapid growth, Ark Foods is opening a new 15,000 square foot production facility in New Jersey.